How much do you plan ahead when creating a story?

[tan82]

I was wondering how much other chyoo authors plan the soryline when creating a new story. Do you intend to just start it off as 5 threads deep and then just let others continue it? Or do you have a long storyline planned and then just let others join in where they want?
Or something completely different?

I have personally planned a lot ahead in my story. I have branching storylines and numerous scenes planned. I even started out with outlining the various scenes I'd want and where to put them. I realized that it wasn't an easy task though, as I have so many ideas in my head, and I've found that I can't plan my story in all details so soon in the writing. I've found that I'm splitting scenes and adding some in my head for future use, and that I'll have to put in extra threads to make it fit together as a whole and from thread to thread by the follow-up questions.

 

[moonblack]

It depends. Sometimes I have ideas for several threads, other times I have enough ideas for just 1 or 2 threads. It doesn't matter to me if I'm writing for my own stories, or for someone else's.

When I'm planning to start a story I try to have a least a few threads ready. I just hate it when people have a good idea, create a new story with just one thread (the introduction), and then never add to it again.

 

[Torg]

Sometimes I just go thread to thread, sometimes I have whole swaths of storyline in my head. My section of Prisoner of Tau Ceti Two has another dozen threads thought up, I just haven't been inspired to write them.

 

[Zingiber]

Some stories more, some stories less.

I'm not systematic enough to say, OK, there are going to be X threads between the start and the destination, and they'll develop in this way.

Some of my stories have an intentional plot arc in the sense of a starting place and a place it's going, with optional meandering around in the meantime. Get Me To The Church On Time is intended to be such, but I still haven't actually gotten any versions of the wedding scene written.

Other stories just set up characters, setting, and situation and see how they develop or what sorts of scenes can be created. In From The Snow is this kind, being a story consisting of bunch of variations on a narrow theme. Office Morale is a story where a couple of main characters' (Rick and Helen) previous acquaintance serves as the entrée into a romp into a particular fantasy land -- workplace sex co-opted for the sake of morale, to increase work productivity. I see the story as a set of loosely connected scenes linked by a setting and theme, and the premise of Helen introducing and explaining her policies to Rick.

Port Call is designed to have more scope for plot development by choosing a particular character to follow during the ship's stop at Port Ruby, and developing the characters enough to give them some momentum in the setting. Lucy's Portion was designed similarly, but with Lucy as the only "point of view" character, having to make important decisions about her changed life quickly after her parentage and inheritance are suddenly revealed. In this case, Lucy's different reactions to the slightly varied situations offer different take-off points for her to come into her own.

When The Cat's Away was conceived with a specific story structure having three main arcs: the parents' swinging cruise; their college kids' free run of the house following their various needs, desires, and (bad?) habits; and the aftermath when the parents get home early. However, though I've suggested a particular resolution to the college kids' arc in the second intro thread, that circle has never quite closed in that way.

I agree with Moonblack that a story with some development is much more inviting than an abandoned-looking intro thread. I've seen a few authors complain about not getting any contributions to short beginning stories, but it's hard to contribute to a story that isn't really warm yet, that hasn't shown much movement in terms of character, plot, or setting development.

A corollary to more developed stories being more attractive to contribute to is that if the story editor adds a continuation to your thread, I see it as a vote of confidence in your contribution.

tan: good writing to you! I appreciate reading your questions and your comments.

-Z

 

[Menoetes]

Just my thoughts...

I like to focus most of my energy on one story. I have a million ideas for things to do and generally plan my story to be as adaptable and diverse as possible, which is probably why I like the 'mind control' genre so much (you can do so much with it). I start off with something simple and non-specific in my introducion then add options which define my character.

ei. the first option is; as you leave the building you see... a) your wife [here you probably have a mature married character] or b) you mother and sisters [a post-pubescent hormone-sizzling character] or c) your girlfriend [a young adult character].

So once they choose one option the characters develop and grow on from there. After that character is established I can take the story anywhere I like, it also gives other a whole lot of freedom for other writers to add to my story.

I guess it's kinda like Torg said, it's a lot of ideas waiting on inspiration to write the threads. There are benefits to having a closed story or a closely edited story with a very specific direction that you see it going in. This means the story develops exactly the way you want it to, but if you want a story you can play with and take in all sorts of different directions (as your mood or inspiration takes you), then this way gives you a lot of variety and means minimal planning (as bad as that sounds)

- Meno

 

[lilguy]

maybe 3 threads

I dont plan ahea as much as I plan what POSSIBLE storyline can come from it


make sure it has a start that can go into totaly differnt directions

 

[jakelyon]

Plan Ahead Flexibly

I generally have a outline of where I think a story line will go. As too how many threads it will take to get there I never know. Things always come up when writing the thread that change where I thought my story line would go. I never really have a set ending in mind.

 

[tan82]

I've been having problems with planning too much ahead lately. I've been thinking about the various scenes and their details that I want in threads that are far from the point of my story that I've currently reached. It has taken me quite soem time to get just one thread finished because it really wasn't one that I cared much for.

I had it pretty much planned, but I've simply been focusing too much on what I want to happen a lot later in the story. So I guess that I've been planning too much ahead and that I've been caught up in thinking of new and interesting storylines, that I simply couldn't focus on getting the one thread finished that I really needed to continue the story.

Has this happened to anyone else?